As the contact person for Kimkins.com I get bags of virtual email every day. Every question you can think of about dieting, weight loss, low carb, Kimkins vs. Atkins, exercise — and whether low calorie diets are safe.
People are so curious about how our members can lose so much weight! So quickly! Is it safe? Some flat out refuse to believe it!
Well meaning folks sometimes delude themselves into thinking they need that tired “1200 calorie minimum” to avoid starvation mode when dieting. Of course this is ridiculous.
If you have excess body fat you’ve got literally thousands of calories of “food” waiting to be used. Want a number? Figure your body fat in pounds, multiply by 3500 and that’s how much “food” you’ve got on hand.
Let’s say 50 lbs to lose, x 3500 = 175,000 “food” calories just hanging there. Does the huge number make you whoozy?
The entire purpose of gastric surgery for obese people is to force their daily calorie limit to 500 for months (maybe years for super morbidly obese)!
Won’t you be hungry? Not on the Kimkins diet. We’ve got ketosis and the Domino Effect hard at work! Read our “What Kimkins Members Say” (bottom of the page) and notice how many post about losing their appetite. Magic?
When people “Ask Kimmer” about very low calorie diets, they usually wonder if their bodies will “stop losing” due to starvation mode. Absolutely not. Why? Because your body will always need more than 500-1000 calories to sustain whatever weight you’re at.
As an example, I’m going to use a 5’4″, 250 lb woman who’s had gastric surgery for weight loss. Her doctor has prescribed 500 calories a day and since she’s sedentary we’ll use a 10X metabolism multiplier. 500 and 10X were picked to make the math easier:
- Weigh 250, need 2500 cal, eat 500, takes 2000 cal from body fat
- Weigh 200, need 2000 cal, eat 500, takes 1500 cal from body fat
- Weigh 150, need 1500 cal, eat 500, takes 1000 cal from body fat
- Weigh 125, need 1250 cal, eat 500, takes 750 cal from body fat
Since you need a 3500 calorie deficit to lose 1 pound, you can see you’ll reach that number a lot faster when you’re creating a 1500 cal deficit, then when you’re close to goal and only creating a 750 deficit. But you’ll get there.
This is why the last 10-15 lbs is harder to lose — your body doesn’t “need” as much calories and doesn’t burn as many calories.
This is also why exercise can help burn calories to make the deficit bigger, but backfires for people who replenish the calories burned. Let’s say they munch a so-called “energy bar” at 250 calories after their workout. Those calories just wiped out the deficit you worked so hard for!
People who were obese and reach goal weight are sometimes disappointed their new daily food amounts now have to remain much smaller than when they were overweight. They think they “ruined” their metabolisms! The simple truth is that a 120 lb body needs much less food than a 320 lb body.
Not to mention they probably aren’t aware that a lunch of a Big Mac & large chocolate shake racks up 1700 calories and 250 carbs! All they know is that they didn’t eat “that much” (especially if other meals are equally high calorie) and get confused when they start regaining weight.
Thinness is an art. Maintenance takes practice. Smart food choices are critical!
